Box Score | PxP | Cumulative Stats

CARY, N.C. – Powered by Luke Holman’s 10 strikeouts, three USA Baseball Collegiate National Team pitchers combined on a four-hit, 5-0 shutout of Japan Sunday evening at Coleman Field, handing the U.S. a two-games-to-one advantage in the 44th Collegiate All-Star Championship Series.

Holman notched his second victory of the CNT campaign, holding Japan in check throughout the first five innings, before Ben Abeldt (TCU) and Brandon Neely (Florida) combined to lock down the victory with four innings of two-hit relief.

Kaelen Culpepper (Kansas State) paced the U.S. offense with a 3-for-4 effort at the plate, while Griff O’Ferrall (Virginia) came through with two hits, including a critical two-run triple in the seventh that turned a one-run Team USA lead into a 3-0 cushion.

With the victory, Team USA needs one victory in its final two contests with Japan to clinch the series win.

KEY MOMENTS

• Holman and Japan starter Hayato Tsunehiro dominated the early innings, allowing a total of three hits between them while facing just two over the minimum through three scoreless frames.
• Holman allowed back-to-back, one-out baserunners in the second, but kept Japan off the board with the first two of four consecutive strikeouts; the right-hander also worked around a leadoff double by Rui Muneyama in the top of the fourth, retiring three straight batters to extinguish the threat.
• Jace LaViolette (Texas A&M) put the U.S. on the board in the fourth by beating out a fielder’s choice RBI grounder, after Charlie Condon (Georgia) walked and Culpepper lined his second single of the game to left to set up the scoring opportunity.
• Holman finished with a flourish, striking out the side in the fifth to end his outing, before Abeldt worked around a pair of hits and a walk in the sixth, getting a lift from catcher Ryan Stafford (Cal Poly), who picked a runner off second to help derail the rally.
• The U.S. generated a three-run rally in the seventh to gain some breathing room, as four straight batters reached safely after Kenichi Murata retired the first two U.S. hitters of the inning; Braden Montgomery (Stanford) started the rally with a base hit to right-center, before a walk to Stafford brought O’Ferrall to the plate.
• O’Ferrall lined a 1-1 offering into the gap in right-center to chase home both baserunners; JJ Wetherholt (West Virginia) followed with a base hit to score O’Ferrall with the fourth Team USA run of the night.
• Culpepper’s third single of the game sparked an eighth-inning threat; Seaver King (Wake Forest) lofted a sacrifice fly to left to make it a 5-0 game after Culpepper swiped second and moved to third on LaViolette’s base hit to right.

NOTEWORTHY

• O’Ferrall finished 2-for-4, marking his sixth multi-hit performance in eight CNT games.
• Holman allowed just three baserunners—a single and a walk in the second, followed by a double in the fourth—while recording the top strikeout total by a Team USA pitcher in the club's eight games to date.
• Holman hiked his CNT strikeout total to a club-high 15, which is seven more K’s than any other pitcher on the staff has posted.
• Holman, Abeldt and Neely combined to fan 12 Japan hitters, marking the second-consecutive game the U.S. has registered a double-digit strikeout total and the fifth such total in its eight games.
• Like O’Ferrall, Culpepper extended his CNT hit streak to eight straight games with his third three-hit performance of the campaign.
• Tonight’s game represents the fifth contest in which the U.S. has surrendered five hits or less; Team USA has yet to allow more than eight hits in a game.

ON DECK

• The scene will shift for the final two contests of the 44th USA vs. Japan Collegiate All-Star Championship Series sanctioned by the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC), with game four slated for 6:30 p.m. ET, Tuesday (July 11) at Joseph Riley Jr. Park in Charleston, S.C.
• Tickets for this year’s Collegiate National Team’s series with Japan can be found HERE.

SOCIAL MEDIA

• Stay tuned to @USABaseballCNT on Twitter for the most up-to-date news about the 2023 Collegiate National Team.